Tuo tea belongs to the tight pressure tea, mainly produced in Yunnan. The unique shape is conical and nest-like, the bottom is like a thick-walled bowl, and the middle is concave, which is more distinctive. The main tea area of Tuo tea was first in Jinggu County, Yunnan Province, also known as "Valley Tea". Nowadays, Tuo tea is concentrated in Shimonoseki, so it is also named "Shimonoseki Tuo Tea".
When making Tuo tea, the raw materials selected are also different. One is to use green tea as a raw material, and the other is to use black tea as a raw material, so there are green tea tuo tea and black tea tuo tea in the varieties.
Green tea Tuo tea is made by using delicate and tender qingmao tea as raw materials and then autoclaving. This variety of tuo tea has a clear shape, rich aroma, golden and bright soup, mellow taste, and obvious sweetness after drinking; black tea Tuo tea is made by using Pu'er tea as raw material and then autoclaved. This variety of tuo tea has a relatively tight shape, the color is brownish red, and it has a unique chen fragrance. The tea soup is fresh and mellow in the mouth, and the soup color is bright red and bright.
The shape of tuo tea is 8 cm in diameter and 4.5 cm in height, and there are three sizes of each one weighing 50 g, 100 g and 250 g respectively. In addition to the abundant production of tuo tea in Yunnan, Chongqing and Sichuan are also produced, and "Chongqing Tuo tea" and "Sichuan Tuo tea" can also be seen in the market.
The processing technology of Tuo tea is: weighing tea, steaming customization, stereotyping and unpacking, drying.
1. Weigh the tea, according to the weight of different specifications, weigh the tea at the same time is divided into cover tea and bottom tea, of which cover tea accounts for 25%, bottom tea accounted for 75%.
2. Steam tea, use a cylinder to steam tea, the floor of the cylinder has holes through steam, the tea leaves are steamed for 10 to 15 seconds after being put in, and the tea leaves become soft after heating.
3. Knead and press the bag, put the steamed tea leaves into the small round bag while hot, tighten the mouth of the bag, and flip the tea ball so that the bottom of the bag mouth is facing up. With a small cylindrical wooden last to hold the bag mouth knot, hold the tea ball and press down, at this time the bag mouth knot falls into the tea ball, and the bowl shape of the tea ball also initially takes shape. Remove the wooden last, and then place the tea ball on the special press mold of tuotuo tea and press it into shape.
4. Take off the bag after the stereotype, the pressed tuo tea should not be taken out of the bag immediately, first cool it after heat dissipation, and then take out the tuo tea.
5. Dry, tuo tea in the process of drying, put it in the baking dish. Drying in a special oven until the moisture content of the tea leaves reaches about 10%, you can leave the oven.